The native Apple remote for Google TV and Android TV that connects every time
Photon speaks the native Android TV Remote v2 wire protocol directly over your local network with on-device Keychain cryptography, certificate pinning, an explainable Connection Doctor, and live keyboard AutoFill. The complete remote is free forever with zero ads and zero tracking.
Built to solve the six failures of ordinary phone remotes
Most TV remote apps drop the socket after sleep, fail to type into password fields, hide basic buttons behind weekly subscriptions, or bundle shared private keys. Photon replaces guesswork with deterministic engineering.
Sub-second reconnect
Photon pins your TV certificate by hardware MAC address and SHA-256 leaf fingerprint, answers every 5-second keepalive ping, and wakes the session before your thumb reaches the D-pad.
Explainable Connection Doctor
When a network change blocks discovery, the built-in Doctor checks Local Network permission, subnet routing, active VPN tunnels, port 6466 reachability, TLS pinning, and TV deep sleep in order.
Live keyboard and AutoFill
Mirror the TV input field live on your iPhone, paste complex strings, or fill streaming credentials directly from iCloud Keychain without hunting across an on-screen alphabet grid.
Verified app launcher
Launch Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video, Max, Plex, Kodi, and 15+ other apps with one tap. Photon verifies the foreground package and automatically falls back if Play Store changes behavior.
Honest power and Wake-on-LAN
Wake supported sets from deep standby via IEEE 802.3 magic packets on UDP ports 9 and 7, with exact per-brand settings guidance for Sony, TCL, Hisense, NVIDIA Shield, and Philips.
Every Apple surface
Control your TV from iOS 17 Home Screen widgets, iOS 18 Control Center and Lock Screen controls, the Action Button, Dynamic Island Live Activities, Siri Shortcuts, Apple Watch, iPad landscape, and your Mac menu bar.
Honest pricing with no subscriptions and no ads
Everything a physical hardware remote does is free forever in Photon, with zero advertisements and zero usage counters. Photon Pro is a single one-time lifetime unlock (photon.pro.lifetime, $9.99 USD) with Family Sharing included.
| Capability | Photon Free | Photon Pro Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery, pairing, unlimited TVs, and device renaming | Included free | Included |
| Tactile D-pad, gesture swipe pad, volume level readout, power, and Wake-on-LAN | Included free | Included |
| Live IME keyboard, clipboard paste, password AutoFill, and voice search | Included free | Included |
| Connection Doctor, VoiceOver, large buttons, and iPad two-pane landscape | Included free | Included |
| Interactive Home Screen widgets and iOS 18 Control Center / Lock Screen controls | Optional upgrade | Unlocked with Family Sharing |
| Dynamic Island Live Activity, Siri Shortcuts, Apple Watch, and Mac menu bar remote | Optional upgrade | Unlocked with Family Sharing |